The announcement by the Ministry of Education that the Megatrend University had its operating license revoked would have passed relatively unnoticed, had an advertisement not appeared on the official accounts of the most well-known private university in Serbia—one that spread across social networks at an incredible speed.

Strictly speaking, it cannot be said that this is an advertisement in the classical sense, since it is a video created by a well-known influencer.

The video begins with a scene of a girl who, visibly excited, runs down the stairs holding a diploma in her hands. Already in the very first frame, there is a large sign reading Megatrend University – John Naisbitt University, which fully captures attention. The girl clearly emphasizes that she completed her studies in an unexpectedly short period of time, followed by a comment from her boyfriend that his friend helped make it happen. Everything ends with a shot of the owner of Megatrend winking from a window.

Provocation as a Path to Virality

Megatrend, as is well known, enjoys a reputation as a university where a degree can be obtained quickly and without much effort. Whether there is any truth to this or not is, for the purposes of this analysis, completely irrelevant. The only facts that matter in the marketing world are that such a perception exists and that the subject of this perception, in this case Megatrend, wants to respond to it adequately.

By skillfully flirting with the existing narrative—without disputing it at any point—the creators of this video achieve a double effect.

Social media users who already hold a negative opinion will be provoked into reacting. They will share the video with their followers, adding their own commentary, thereby unconsciously showing that they have become emotionally invested in the entire story. The essence of marketing is precisely to provoke emotions in consumers that lead to reactions.

Since even negative advertising is still advertising, this approach increases the video’s virality. In this way, even through those who did not like the content, it will reach those who might potentially like it.

On the other hand, Megatrend, as a private university, also addresses a specific target audience—future students. That is why the choice for the main protagonist of the video falls on a popular influencer, whose audience is predominantly made up of younger people, that is, those who may already be ready to enroll in universities as soon as next year.

Timing

It is not known whether the video was created before or after the announcement by the Ministry of Education. It was published just two days after the announcement appeared on the Ministry’s official website, so it can also be interpreted as a reaction to it.

Either way, the timing of releasing this spot to the public was perfectly chosen, because assumptions about whether it was a response to the Ministry’s decision further contributed to the content reaching a significantly wider audience.

What is achieved by this? Taking the initiative in order to control the narrative. Megatrend avoids a situation in which it has to explain or justify anything, instead using the crisis to steer the narrative in the desired direction.

Humor Is the Best Defense

Accepting criticism by transforming it into humor or self-irony is the most effective form of defense. That this is a rule can be verified through almost any other example.

In this way, Megatrend has shown that what is presented as its biggest flaw can quite easily be turned into its greatest advantage. Self-irony dulls the edge of criticism, because humor generates sympathy even among a significant portion of critics.